Why are the instruction manuals for cell phones incomprehensible? Why is a truck driver's job as hard as a CEO's? How can 10-percent of every medical dollar cure 90-percent of the world's disease?

Complexity is a slippery idea. Things that seem complicated can be astoundingly simple; things that seem simple can be dizzyingly complex. These and other paradoxes are driving a whole new science - simplexity - that is redefining how we look at the world and using that new view to improve our lives.

Through the lens of this surprising new science, the world becomes a delicate place filled with predictable patterns, but they're patterns we often fail to see as we're time and again fooled by our instincts, by our fear, by the size of things, even by their beauty.

In Simplexity, Jeffrey Kluger shows how a drinking straw can save thousands of lives; how investors behave like atoms; and how physics drives jazz. As simplexity moves from the research lab into popular consciousness, it will challenge our models for modern living. Kluger adeptly translates newly evolving theory into a delightful theory of everything that will have you rethinking the rules of business, family, art - your world. Download and start listening now!

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Listener Opinions

by Caitlin | 2/20/2014

" Interesting, full of fun facts and wry sentences, but ultimately not as illuminating of the field of plectics as I had hoped. "

by Libraryvixen | 2/16/2014

" Super duper interesting. The more I read books like this, the more I believe that God is really Math. "

by Bcoghill Coghill | 2/11/2014

" Interesting ways of looking at the world around us. Current & up to date. "

by Kelsey | 1/30/2014

" I loved the introduction, but then wasn't loving the rest of the book. It was a bit too text-y, and sometimes I didn't feel like the work was well connected or clearly answered the questions asked at the beginning of each chapter. However, the last few chapters were very interesting to me and saved this book from getting only two stars. "

" A thoughtful, interesting read of how simple things are really complex and complex things are really quite simple. A nice wake-up call for those who get hung up on the minutiae of life. Simplexity nicely blended the real world with the fun stuff. For example, there's a chapter on language acquisition (real world) shortly after a chapter on whether the "winningest" sports team is really the best. It's truly amazing what scientists can discover! "

Lori Grant | 1/27/2014

" A should-read book for knowledge workers and entrepreneurs on concepts and trends. "

Tama | 1/26/2014

" I'm really enjoying this book.... "

Brian | 1/25/2014

" Not great - no flow to the book, individual chapters are all stand-alone. Not particularly engaging - and not really coherent in relation to complexity or simplicity. To be honest, if you think about anything long enough you can describe it as complex. If you think about it in a different way, it gets simpler. You can then choose to write what you like about it. "

Todd | 1/21/2014

" So it turns out that lots of stuff in the world is simple, but also complex. Stock market - simple but complex. Personal biases - simple but complex. Sports - simple but complex. Technology - simple but complex. You get the idea. Now, I don't mean to sound condescending but Kluger's book is little more than a collection of essays with neat little tidbits here and there. There's an attempt to string the essays together using the idea of simplexity but it's a stretch and ends up reading like "Freakanomics for Dummies". It's not a bad book and I'll probably pull it out every now and then to reread some of the interesting nuggets, but it is a book that doesn't know what it wants to be. "

Merle | 1/17/2014

" A popularization of a current science-based philosphy. Touches on research from a variety of fields. I'll probably use the chapter on language as one of the discussion articles in my linguistics course. "

Mary | 1/16/2014

" lots of interesting facts. not much idea what to do with them. "

Evan | 12/20/2013

" Handful of interesting stories but they never were put together in any meaningful or useful way. "

Sherri | 12/16/2013

" Kluger's book was one of those that was interesting while I was reading it, but easily forgotten when I was done. If you like books like The Wisdom of Crowds you would probably enjoy this. "

Carmen MC | 10/22/2013

" "Complexification and simplexity at their best" "

Austin | 4/21/2013

" The first couple of chapters and the last are the most worthwhile to me. I couldn't tell if the other chapters were way off topic or just not as interesting. Very thought-stimulating though. "

Benjamin | 4/19/2013

" interesting concept for a book but I thought it wasn't a fun read and ideas ran on and on. "

Hans | 4/13/2013

" A book that can add an enriching new perspective to life. Seeing things from another angle. I enjoyed all the topics covered. Essentially this book is how life is not quite what we may think it is. "

Andy | 11/9/2012

" Some interesting thoughts, but never really came together in any cohesive way for me. Or maybe that's Kluger's point. Worth a look. "

DaughterDaDa | 11/8/2012

" This book reads like a series of articles for a popular science magazine. Some good insights to help see the world in a new way, but you have to plough through a lot of chatty text. Could have been half the size, or less, and still presented the essential points for reflection. "

Martin | 4/25/2012

" The ideas presented are good enough but it is let down by poor writing "

Audrey | 11/19/2011

" God knows why I even thought I would like this book. I probably picked it up for Marc, actually. I got about 30 pages into it and realized that I did not give a rat's ass about anything I had read so far.....ugh. So I put it down and moved on. "

Jenny Villanueva | 10/11/2011

" Super fast read, interesting chapter on language development. "

Ken | 8/20/2011

" Not bad, I don't think it really demonstrated how to make complex things simple, but it did a good job of identifying how things get complex. I liked the example of technology and how they mess everything up. "

Jim | 3/25/2011

" A few parts dragged but overall a nice book with some interesting ideas. "

Kaworu | 3/9/2011

" Some rather ordinary examples, and some which were mildly interesting. I kept thinking that I had seen all of this before, though.
"

Apathy | 11/15/2010

" Not a lot went straight over my head as I was reading it, but honestly I remember very little. That's something I have trouble with for nonfiction books, since I tend to take a long time reading them. Well, the writing was very good.
"

Evan | 11/3/2010

" Handful of interesting stories but they never were put together in any meaningful or useful way.
"

Ken | 9/10/2010

" Not bad, I don't think it really demonstrated how to make complex things simple, but it did a good job of identifying how things get complex. I liked the example of technology and how they mess everything up.
"

Pandanator | 7/20/2010

" A nice introduction to the abstract concept of chaos theory and all that jazz. Kluger keeps it simple but doesn't assume that the reader is an idiot.
"

Jenny | 6/9/2010

" Super fast read, interesting chapter on language development.
"

LaQuita | 1/21/2010

" I just spent 45 minutes reading about Football and war games and didn't lose interest. Amazing!
"

Jim | 12/1/2009

" A few parts dragged but overall a nice book with some interesting ideas.
"

Mary | 11/29/2009

" lots of interesting facts. not much idea what to do with them.
"

Hans | 10/19/2009

" A book that can add an enriching new perspective to life. Seeing things from another angle. I enjoyed all the topics covered. Essentially this book is how life is not quite what we may think it is.
"

Austin | 9/21/2009

" The first couple of chapters and the last are the most worthwhile to me. I couldn't tell if the other chapters were way off topic or just not as interesting. Very thought-stimulating though.
"

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